


What do you do when an Applin is destroying your apartment,,?

by forsain7



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: ? - Freeform, Fluff, Kajicchu | Applin as a Declaration of Love, M/M, Romance, also if theres any tags that would work- feel free to tell me www, charizard and others in leon's team are mentioned-, i don't actually know what tags to use.., leon is a disaster when it comes to his feelings-, this is cliche i know but i really wanted to write this www
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28218840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forsain7/pseuds/forsain7
Summary: After hours of searching for an Applin, Leon had finally found one! Now he just needs to wait for the right moment to finally work up the courage to give it to a certain rival of his-...wait-" A-Applin-? why are you destroying my table, wAIT!???",,, Maybe he needs some help, before he does anything else- at least, if he wants to have an apartment left by the end of this...
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Kibana | Raihan
Comments: 12
Kudos: 53





	What do you do when an Applin is destroying your apartment,,?

\--------

“...Well… We can just try tomorrow...”

Leon was sat in front of his temporary camp's fire - located right in the depths of the wild area. He had made his announcement with as much optimism as he could muster, but his team just looked at him with varying amounts of dismay and reluctance,

“Hey, don’t be like that- especially you, charizard, I need you the most right now-”, Getting lost in the wild area really should be the least of his problems to focus on-”, so can we just get some rest, and continue looking tomorrow? It’s my last free day in a while, so it'll be my last chance…?”

After a tiny bit of pleading, and with a promise of an extra portion of curry, his team reluctantly gave in with a huff. Leon sat back with a sigh and tried his best to remember where the best place to look would be...

…Oh… Right, what was he looking for?

Well… to put it simply, an Applin.

Putting it slightly less simply- an Applin that he would have to somehow find - then get the guts to give away to his crush… Which happened to be his rival… Who he had no clue if he felt the same way.

_‘It’s really not that simple, huh…’_

He had spent the whole day out in the wild area, searching for one. It really should have been an easy task, Applins were known to linger commonly in certain areas of Galar, after all. But the real problem was that Leon couldn’t really go to those areas… The areas where Applins tend to be commonly seen were also quite well known, and you could often see people of differing types trying to catch one to give to their crushes or partners… And because of this, if Leon even spent just a second looking for an Applin - he’d be spotted for sure.

That would be fine if he wasn’t the literal _champion_ of the whole region-

With a disheartened sigh, Leon ran a hand down his face- It was very easy for him to envision the media's reaction the moment they caught wind of such a sight… There’d be articles and interviews at every corner, ‘Who is the mystery person who’s caught the champion’s eye??’, 'Have you confessed yet??', 'Can we interview _them_??'

He’d like to avoid that, if possible… Especially since he didn't want Raihan to hear about it...

Which is why he’s had to resort to looking elsewhere, not near the usual Applin habitats. He had made sure to organise a few days free from training, exhibition matches, and any other champion based responsibilities, and he picked an out of the way section of the wild area to look around, (Hopefully, no-one should be spotting him around here)... Applins have occasionally been known to nest around here, in some of the trees… It’s just very rare to find any… Probably impossible, at this point-

Leon paused in that train of thought, before sitting upright - giving himself a quick firm smack on his cheeks,

“I can’t start giving up now!”, He said out loud to no-one in particular, “I just need to keep looking… And even if I can’t find one this time, I’ll just try again another day!”

Both Charizard and Haxorus sent him a glare,

“... I’ll try again when you’ve all had a good break from this first…?”

They seemed content with that addition, and they resumed with eating their meals... Leon watched them with an uncertain smile on his face,

'When did they become the ones in charge,,,?'

Leon quietly watched them for a moment longer, relieved that they seemed to have not given up on him and his little quest entirely... Sure, he needed them for navigation, as it was very likely that he would just end up back somewhere like Postwick... But his team had been very useful as a moral boost as well... Leon closed his eyes, then sighed once again, and hunched forward- pulling his knees up to his chest,

“I still wonder where one could be…”, He absently toyed with his cap, “I’ve shook almost every tree… And almost got knocked out by the greedents landing on my head, hahah... Hmm, oh well, I should really start settling down for the night... I need a full charge of energy if i'm going to continue my search tomorrow- ...Huh...?”

His train of thought was completely derailed. Instead his focus lay solely on his little Dreepy, which he had caught a few weeks ago. It seemed quite sweet, as it always followed Leon around when he was training in the wild area, and his Dragapult seemed to like it, so naturally he let it join his team- though of course not his battle team. It was floating lazily around his camp right now, quite content with its surroundings… And it seemed to have another pokemon following it like a shadow… 

A… Very apple-shaped… shadow…

“H-Hey-! Dreepy, can you come over here for a second, _please??_ ”

\--------------

He really could not believe it.

Even now, after he made his way back to his apartment in Wyndon, he could not believe his luck...

He really just had an _Applin_ here, sitting in his lap, now... And a shiny one, at that!

 _‘Seriously,, what are the odds… I mean, a Shiny? ...it’ll definitely make a statement! I'm sure Raihan will love it!’,_  
Leon couldn’t really wipe away the wide grin he had on his face, and instead just let himself linger in the joy for a bit longer by happily playing with the Applin in his lap-

“Hmm, But what now…?”, The Applin chirped happily as it tried to leap up and headbutt Leon’s hand, “Ah...! You’re a playful little thing, aren’t you?”, Leon laughed to himself, “He’ll really like you, you know? I just need to decide when to give you to him…”

The Applin didn’t seem interested in his ramblings, and instead seemed content focusing on its new target- leon’s hat. It hopped upwards in an attempt to knock it straight off his messy hair-

“I could give it to him next time we hold an exhibition match…?”, Leon mumbled to himself, not acknowledging the Applin’s desperate attempts to knock his cap off his head, “No, that wouldn’t work… It’d be a bit risky, with that crowd… The media coverage would be overwhelming... And we’re both too busy immediately afterwards- Since he has to go back to his gym and all, and I have to handle any interviews…”

The Applin had given up on the cap attacks, and was now sulking in Leon’s lap. Leon let out an amused laugh and patted it,

“Hmm, the championship league, maybe? Me and the gym leaders do get some time afterwards to wind down after all the excitement and battles… I’ll just visit his locker room and hand it to him there! Yep! That’ll be the plan! I mean, I still don’t know how he’ll react, but we’ll have to overcome that obstacle when it's reached!”, Leon happily patted the Applin on his lap once again, which looked both confused but happy at the sudden attention, “Great! Now to just wait until then… The next league would be a few months away - But that time should go by quick enou- Applin?”

The once content Applin had frozen underneath Leon's hand. Leon peered down at it in confusion,

“...Hello…?”

Leon cautiously poked at the Applin’s side- and it pushed away the hand with a rude nudge, before it launched itself from his lap. Barreling straight across the room, it then rolled out of sight...

...strange... was it grumpy, all of a sudden?

 _'I guess it's a bit tired'_ , Leon thought to himself as he stood up from his sofa with a stretch, _'It'll take a moment to adjust to its new surroundings... Ah, I may have pet it a bit too much as well... it's probably in a mood at me... Oh well, after a good night's rest it'll calm down.'_

Leon sleepily trudged off to get some rest himself, certain that the Applin will be back in its previously chipper mood by the next morning...

\-----------

“Please, Applin!! Stop- _Are those my hats!?_ ”

Leon was definitely regretting feeling so certain about that now,,

He was faced with an Applin seemingly dead-set on destroying everything in his apartment... Ever since he first poked it out of confusion, the next morning, Applin had apparently chose to then snap into action; immediately working on destroying whatever it could get its apple self ahold of... It first started small, so Leon thought nothing of it. A few of his mugs, or other similar utensils got a bit cracked, or broken, but it didn't seem like a problem at the time. But then it started getting a little bit out of hand- considering his desk in his room has now got a considerable chunk taken out of one leg,,

During the first few days, Leon just assumed it was being a little rough with its new environment - Raihan himself had told him, years ago, that sometimes dragons are just like That, and there’s nothing to do except to just let them settle down and grow comfortable with their new home, in their own way… Leon assumed that poking it just set the Applin off- no big deal,,

But when Leon had just returned home from a hard days training, and was faced with his hat collection,, (which he was very fond of), being scattered across his apartment’s floor, disheveled and coated in the sticky sweet syrup that Applin’s have...

“I need help,,”, He eventually admitted. Currently, he was holding a resisting Applin in his hands as he lifted it from the remains of one of his favourite caps, “... I really did like that one, too… I need you to calm down - but where do I even start, I don’t know much about Applins… ”

Being as careful as he possibly could, he placed the Applin down on the kitchen counter- his care was wasted as it immediately hopped off the counter and rolled away, out of sight, to elsewhere in his apartment.

Leon leant against the kitchen counter, defeated.

 _‘I never thought the biggest challenge I would face would be a single Applin… Even Charizard can’t handle it, Applin could just roll away through any small gap - and Charizard can’t do a single thing… Guess I’m not as undefeatable as I thought-’_ , He winced a little as he heard a substantially loud crash from another room, _‘I can’t leave it like this… I won't have an apartment to live in, at this rate! But who can I ask for help… Oh...’_

It was obvious, to him, who he should ask for help. Applin was a misbehaving dragon, acting out for an unknown reason... And who better did Leon know, that dealt with dragons on a daily basis, than Raihan… Plus, Raihan was used to Leon calling him over - he had to do so when he first caught his Dragapult, who was then a small little Dreepy, due to the dragon being particularly fussy about its meals… He could probably come and help at a moment's notice...

It’s just…

“Maybe... he won’t figure out… it’s for him…?”, Leon nervously laughed to himself. That was the one _big_ catch to this plan...

He hesitated, just for a moment, making sure there was no-one else he could ask- (Of course there’s someone else, he just really liked any excuse to spend time with Raihan-), But eventually he pushed himself away from the counter, and hunted for his phone.

“Where did I put it- aha!”, He fished it out from behind the couch’s cushions - the Applin must have somehow knocked it behind there… Or Leon just lost it, both were very likely.

With a motion he didn’t even need to think about, with how many times he had done it before, he called Raihan.

…

. . .

. . .-” _Hello…?_ ”

Ah- He sounded tired... Leon took a quick glance out the window and became all too aware about how late it was… He must have spent longer than he thought, struggling with the Applin... 

“ _Hello? Leon, this is you, right? Don’t tell me you accidentally called me in your sleep again,,_ ”,

Oh right- Responding, of course- he should try and get his vocal chords to work before Raiahan decided to hang up on him, leaving him to handle the Applin all on his own- he was pretty certain that the apartment will be reduced to ruins if he did that...

“Hi, Raihan-”, He paused as Raihan’s words sunk in, “W-Wait, what do you mean-? Have I called you in my sleep before???”

“ _Hmm, no. But it got a response from you, didn’t it? So I guess that’s a win- since you decided to just give me the silent treatment~_ Does that count as a victory against you, champ? -Guess I'm the new Galar champion now, when do we make the announcement~?”

He couldn't even see him, yet Leon was certain that Raihan had his little lopsided smirk on his face as he spoke...

“Haha, very funny… You got me worried there for a minute,,”

“ _Why? Thought I’d have some embarrassing sleeptalking to blackmail you with?_ ”, Raihan teased, “ _I wish!_ ”

“No...”, /Yes- definitely exactly that, and definitely a particular embarrassing detail revolving around a certain c r u s h-/

Leon could hear a sleepy yawn through the phone once he had finished talking, and felt a small amount of guilt hit him- maybe he should have waited until tomorrow... Surely he could have handled the Applin until then?

Leon nervously opened his mouth and quietly begun, "U-Um-"

“ _...Well…_ ”, Raihan continued talking, not hearing Leon and also cutting off whatever he was going to say, (he himself didn't really know what it was either...), “ _I’m guessing you didn’t call me just to chat? What’s up? Do you need something, Leon?_ ”

Leon hesitated for a split second, just a second just to doubt his decision once again, and another crash sounded off from the adjacent room… a rather… concerningly loud crash,,

“ _Hey, wait, Leon what was that??_ ”, Oh, so Raihan could hear that through the phone- Leon could hear a shuffling sound on the other end, perhaps Raihan was getting out of bed? “ _Are you okay!?_ ”

Well, it's too late to back out now - Raihan wouldn't leave it alone until he explained anyways.

“Haha,, um, so that’s what I wanted to talk to you about…”

\------------

“Ah, so _that’s_ the rowdy little fella in question…”

Leon had never felt so relieved to see Raihan before, when he opened his apartment door. Though he was a little embarassed - he currently was desperately trying to keep hold of the ‘Rowdy little fella in question’ underneath his arm- so he probably looked a right mess.

“Y-Yeah, can you-”, The applin slipped away and bolted straight for his cap, which he had left on the sofa, “N-No, don’t!! Ahh- Raihan _Please_ Help me, I’m _suffering_.”

Raihan didn’t move a single muscle to help, instead he just cackled to himself as he looked between the Applin tackling the now battered cap and Leon, the champion of Galar, pleading with him because of a literal apple pokemon-

“ _Raihan_ ”

“Okay, okay, I’m coming- I’ll try and figure out what’s bothering it.”, he gave Leon a carefree wave, and tried his best to stop laughing to himself-

Leon watched as Raihan calmly made his way into the apartment, closing the front door behind him. He moved to stand behind the sofa, safely out of the Applin's range, as Raihan crouched down in front of it. Raihan tilted his head, getting a closer look at the Applin, which had ceased in its destruction for a moment to curiously glance up at the new human in the area.

Raihan hummed to himself,

“So... It’s an Applin, huh?”, He sent Leon an amused look, “Got your eye on someone, champ?”

Leon desperately hoped that his face was NOT going as red as he felt it was-

“U-Uh… I guess you could say that?”, His voice barely even made it out of his throat, seriously how did he ever survive whenever he was with Raihan...

“Ahh, It’s a shiny one too.”, Raihan gently stroked the Applin with a soft smile that made Leon’s chest ache, “...They must be really special to you, huh…”

“...Y-Yeah…”, _‘You have no idea, Rai... No idea at all, haha...’_

Raihan spent a little longer crouched there, carefully petting the surprisingly docile Applin, before standing back upright and stretching-

“Alright, let’s take a look at the damage this fella has wrought-.”, He glanced about the room, and grimaced, “Yeesh, this guy really did a number on the place, Leon- How did it even make a dent in the wall that high up...?”

“I think it made Haxorus lift it up…”

“... Huh?”

“I think Haxorus is scared of it?? ...Actually I think most of my pokemon are, the thing's a little nightmare, I swear,,”

“... _HUH?_ "

Said little nightmare, now lacking the attention that Raihan was giving it, had gone back to mercilessly attacking Leon’s once prized cap.

\-----------

“So… What’s your professional dragon diagnosis?”

Leon was sat next to Raihan on a rather battered sofa. He had only sat down a few moments ago - he had mainly put his focus on trying to catch the energetic Applin, to no avail, while Raihan had simply sat down much earlier and watched the chaos. To ‘observe’, he said.

“Please tell me that I can calm it down…”, Leon added.

Raihan didn’t respond for a moment, instead he watched the Applin for a little longer. The Applin was now deciding to tackle and slam against the table in any way it can, evidently it had made the table its new target…

“Well, my professional dragon diagnosis, (tm), is… well, I don’t know.”, He smiled sheepishly at Leon - who stared back in disbelief,

“I’m sorry… what?”, There was no way that _Raihan_ didn’t know what was happening- he was _raihan_ for goodness sake,,

“I just don’t know, sorry Leon…”, Raihan shrugged apologetically as he watched the Applin, “I’ve had a few applins in my care before. They weren’t exactly _calm_ , They work like most dragons, you know - just acting a bit rowdy, maybe making a little chaos here and there… But they did simmer down eventually. And they were definitely not as bad as this… How long did you say you had this little terror again?”

Leon nervously scratched his cheek,

“Umm… about three weeks…”, He probably sounded as drained as he looked, to be honest-

“Three weeks!?”, Raihan’s eyes widened, “I’m surprised you didn’t call me sooner, if this was what you had to deal with… But… I’m afraid I can’t help all too much.”

Raihan paused, closing his eyes in thought, before adding,

“Well, I can guess something, if that will help?”

“Literally anything will help at this point,,”

“Alright then-”, Raihan nodded, “I can’t say for sure, but… The Applin could be… angry? No, maybe frustrated... Maybe even bored, Perhaps… I’ve seen it where some dragons get a little restless - i mean i’ve had to deal with plenty of Goomy’s that decided to act up a little - and that’s the closest kind of dragon behaviour I can really pin to this little guy’s actions… it’s clearly not acting maliciously, though, so i guess you’ve got a little restless apple on your hands.”

A part of Leon was just listening to Raihan’s ‘diagnosis’ and nodding away. The rest of Leon, and most precisely his inner part, was just _screaming_.

On the one hand, he was fretting because there apparently was no clear solution in calming it down... But the main problem was that, whilst listening to Raihan's theory... Leon had put together something... Something that was definitely not easy to solve, especially with a certain rival sat next to him at the moment-

_His Applin was restless because it’d take so long for him to give it away._

Leon had to resist a pitiful laugh that threatened to make its way out of his mouth. He had finally figured out what was making his Applin act up, and he literally had no idea what to do with the information-

He couldn’t just make the tournament hurry up - that’s not how it worked… And he _definitely_ is NOT giving it to Raihan right now- that would just be embarassing, especially after all the trouble he had put him through... He’s just glad that the Applin doesn’t seem to know that Raihan, who is literally sat right next to him, was the recipient… if it did - it would have probably dragged Leon’s feelings right out into the open in a heartbeat, whether Leon liked it or not,,

Ah- speaking of Raihan, he was looking at Leon with a teasing smile,

“So…”, He shuffled closer to Leon, which Leon definitely picked up on, “Who’s the lucky person?”

“H-Huh?”, Leon could barely focus on the question, instead paying attention to how pretty his rival seemed to be up close--

“You heard me, Leon!”, Raihan grinned and pointed over at the Applin, “You’ve had me babysit this little fella with you for a good few hours now. I could of been having my beauty sleep, Leon! You owe me a little bit of payment! So...?”

_‘Hhhhh-’_

Leon’s brain had _way_ too much to process right now- he had to deal with the fact that firstly it had apparently been hours?? since when?? And also Raihan, you sat and watched what do you mean 'babysit'- and thirdly, Raihan was literally right there, and his little teasing smile was just right there and--

Leon’s heart was going at a mile a minute- and now he apparently had to worm his way out of this questioning-???

he's no longer the undefeatable champion, because he absolutely feels defeated right now--

“U-Uhhh, I… It's... Umm?? ”

“Come on, Leon! I won't tell anyone! Trust me, i get it, the media can be a _nightmare_.”

“ _UHHH???_ ”

His face was definitely bright red now- 

“Leon, don’t just sit there and 'uhh!' at me! You can- Oh?”

Ah, for once the Applin had saved Leon from a disastrous situation-- who would have thought,,

Whilst Raihan was teasing away at Leon, it had hopped from the table onto his lap, distracting him from his questioning, much to Leon’s relief.

_‘Thank goodness… Maybe Raihan will leave that detail alone for now… Is there any hope in thinking he'll forget about the 'crush' for now...? huh… Wait, th-that Applin… it hadn't-?’_

It did.

It knew exactly what it was doing, and Leon knew it.... Judging by the very pointed stare it was sending him, and how it kept looking up at Raihan like that-

_‘...It figured it out.’_

Leon was pretty certain a siren was going off in his head now - please send help-

Somehow the Applin must have figured it out when watching them talk... But how-

...Actually, with how red his face was, and with how he must have been acting - it was a wonder that _Raihan_ didn’t figure it out, to be honest- he probably looked like a flustered mess...

But that doesn’t matter, what matters is the very… smug? Applin sat on Raihan’s lap-

“Nyaww, it’s calmed down, look at it~! You stopped destroying his table, just to come see me? You’re a sweet little destruction machine, aren’t you~?”, Raihan was just smothering the thing with affection- _‘The… traitorous apple…’_ , Leon’s brain helpfully supplied, “Hey, Leon, do you know what’s up with it- you two seem to be having a little staring contest…”

“...”

“Hmm? Now that i look closer- Leon, your face is bright red?? Are you okay- don't tell me I made you mad when I was questioning you!”, Raihan looked worried and hurriedly said, "It's okay if you don't want to tell me, alright-"

“ _Itsforyou-!_ ”

“...”

“,,,”

“...What... did you just say…?”, Raihan asked him, eyes wide in shock. Leon wasn’t dumb, he knew full well that Raihan heard him- and he knew that his expression was absolutely giving himself away, even if Raihan hadn’t heard him...

.. Well there was only one way out of this...

Denial!

“Haha, just kidding.. Haha…”, Leon awkwardly laughed and patted Raihan on his shoulder, putting on his best attempt at a relaxed smile - despite him feeling like every nerve in his body was on high alert, “Hah, I really got you, huh R-Raihan?”

“...Leon, you know that you suck at lying.”, Raihan spoke in a deadpan voice.

“Please just let me lie anyways,,”, 

Raihan wasn’t looking at Leon anymore, instead just toying with the little Applin in his lap. Leon sat in silence, too terrified to speak and too worried to even move… Ah, his hand was still on Raihan’s shoulder, he’d have to move it right, he’s probably made everything awkward, he should have just left it, of course Raihan would be weirded out, he probably had just ruined-

“I can hear you thinking from here, Leon….”, Raihan’s surprisingly quiet voice cut through Leon’s thoughts. Leon shakily pulled his hand away from Raihan, resisting every urge in his body to hide his face in his hands,

“I… I’m sorry, Raihan, I...”

Raihan pulled a hand away from the now concerned Applin and held it up to silence him,

“Leon, don’t apologise… I just…”, His voice sounded strange… Strained? “Is… Is this… really for me…?”

Leon gave up on lying entirely, It was too late anyways. He simply nodded…

…

A strangely wet laugh broke the silence - Leon looked up at Raihan in surprise.

“Raihan, are you… Crying…?”, he had never seen his rival cry.

_‘Oh, I’ve really messed this up, haven’t I, I’ve upset him - I should have just lied, I’ve ruined everything- ’_

Raihan waved off his concern,

“D-Don’t worry, Leon… I just… Hah…”, He let out one more strained laugh, “I’m just… relieved…”

…

Huh?

“Relieved…?”

Raihan finally lifted his head again to look at Leon. To Leon's surprise he looked... happy?

“I… When I first saw this little fella…”, He lifted the worried looking Applin, pointing to it hesitantly “...I was worried, you know?”

Leon looked at him in confusion, but decided to not say a word. 

“I thought that you were… interested in someone else… someone really special, as to receive a _shiny_ Applin… I thought I would have no chance with you, Leon…”, He gave Leon a shaky grin, “But it looks like I was worried for nothing, huh?”

Okay- the confusion isn’t there so much anymore… Now Leon just felt disbelief.

Raihan… Did he…

“You feel the same way….?”, were the only words Leon could force out of his throat.

It felt as though a huge weight lifted itself off of Leon’s chest, as he watched Raihan laugh and reach over to gently grab his own, shaking, hand,

“How could I not, Leon… I mean, you’re… _You_ , Hahah… I… I love you too…”,

The Applin chirped a little cheer- and Leon let out a breath, as a strangled sob of sheer relief, that he didn't realise he was holding. He reached for Raihan, with his free hand, and pulled him in for a tight hug, making sure to not jostle the Applin...

...They stayed there like that until the sun finally rose after a long night, with Raihan silently crying in relief, never once letting go of Leon's hand, and with Leon sobbing into Raihan's shoulder... Well... At least, they stayed like that, until they both inevitably fell asleep, exhausted, and contently snuggled together with a certain proud apple between them-

\--------------

**Author's Note:**

> My! First! SwSh! Fic!  
> i had a dream vaguely similar to this, so felt like writing it? It's strange, this is new territory and all-- and i haven't written much lately,, but this was quite nice to write! even though it's a bit messy at parts--  
> i also don't really know how to write romance(?), and now that i think about it, this is my first non-platonic fic?? huh,,
> 
> anyways! i hope you enjoyed? I'll hopefully write more SwSh fics-- and hopefully they'll be better-- :^)  
> (though there's no guarantee, haha,,,)


End file.
